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About Me Randomness

* I think I’d love writing in glitter ink more, but I’ve been unable to find those types of pens.

* I’m crazy in love with the guy I married.

* I discovered, when I was a child, that bees swarm when you piss them off. My parents discovered that I was not allergic to bee stings.

* When asked what I do for a living, I answer that I’m a writer and a mom.

* I majored in political science in college with concentrations in philosophy and history.

* Once I graduated from college, I bought the toys that go in kid’s meals. I totally coveted the kid’s meals toys at my cubicle and never let anyone else keep one. At heart, I guess I’m still five.

* When I was in high school, I was ranked in the top twenty in the Kentucky Tennis Association.

* I never picked up a racket until I was fourteen and I only took two private lessons in my life. I had to work for two months at the K-Mart shoe department in order to pay for those lessons.

* I wore K-Mart shoes in high school because they were cheap, cute and mainly because I got a discount.

* I was attacked by a dog in second grade and repressed the memory. To this day, I only see snapshot images of the event and none of the images include blood.

* I prefer cats over dogs (unless it's my dog Rachel and then I prefer her).

* I don’t remember meeting my best friend, Tiffany. She always had been a fixture in my life.

* Tiffany and I shared a locker even when we didn’t have to. We also shared a dorm room in college and a basement apartment.

* She had a dog that ate out of the garbage and dragged its butt on the floor when it walked. We used the dog to test the guys we wanted to date. The guys who petted the dog were keepers.

* My husband petted the dog.

* My husband is allergic to dogs.

* The day my best friend died is one of the most devastating days of my life. I still cry over the loss.

* I don’t like bugs.

* Cemeteries creep me out.

* I live one block away from a cemetery.

* As a teenager, I read the OUTSIDERS so much that the cover fell off and almost every page in the book was dog-eared.

* I hope one day someone will read my book so much that the cover falls off.

****My Faith****

Anyone who has read my books know that I write stories that are raw, gritty and contain very tough circumstances. As I’ve told people more than once, I write characters who face difficult problems and my characters discover that no matter how dark the situation there is always hope. I believe this to the depth of my soul.

Hope and love—those are the two most powerful things on earth.

Why do I write what I write? Because there was a time in my life I faced very dark and difficult circumstances and there were brief moments in those dark times that I didn’t think hope was possible. I was wrong.

Hope and love are very real, and I found that hope and love through my faith—I am a Christian.

If you’ve read my books, you are already guessing correctly that I’m not your stereo-typical Christian. :-) Yes, I’m quite aware there is cursing in my books, some steamy scenes, and that my books can be very, very gritty.

I often write as raw and real as I can because that’s life. But here’s the thing: hope is real. So is love.

As someone once said to me, you need the darkness to enjoy the light. Is that necessarily true? I don't know, but I do know that I didn’t really understand hope, love and my faith until I walked in cold darkness. Do you need to walk in cold darkness to understand faith, hope and love? No. But my path was a raw and gritty one. I was on this path due to my choices and I was on this road due to life sometime choosing my path for me.

I know that there are others out there who also walk a raw and gritty path. If you’re one of those people, I’m here to tell you I’m the ghost of Christmas future—there is a way off that tough path. I’m here to tell you, things will get better and that hope and love does exist.

I’m an extremely flawed person, I have made terrible mistakes in my life, and because I am human, I will continue to make mistakes. With that said, every day I wake up and I know that love is real, that hope is real, that forgiveness is real and that my faith is real.

I believe in love. I do not believe in hate. There is no room for hate in Christianity and it is my prayer that someday all my brothers and sisters in my faith will come to agree that our faith revolves around love and understanding.

This wraps up what I believe:

Matthew 22:36-39 (NIV)

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a]38 This is the first and greatest commandment.39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

Favorite Quotes of Mine:

* Luke 1:37 - "For no word from God will ever fail.”

* Isaiah 61:1 - "The Spirit of the SovereignLordis on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,"

* 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 - "11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully know.13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

* John 15:12-13 - "12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. "

* John 8:32 - "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

* Isaiah 43:18 - “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past."

* Galatians 5:13-14 13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love.14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

* Psalm 62:6 - "Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken."

*Ecclesiastes 4:12 - "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

*Psalm 112:7-8 - "They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph over their foes.